RULE 31: Identify Key Times & Event

A cobra has a lot of power, a lot of venom, a lot of energy. But how often do you see one strike? Rarely. Cobras only use all that power and energy when it is 

• Appropriate

• Meaningful 

• Advantageous 

• Beneficial 

• Necessary 

• Important 

They strike when in danger or when they need to feed. The rest of the time you wouldn’t know they were there. The rest of the time they don’t even look like cobras. They don’t display their hood except when they have to. You will become a cobra. There is no point using all your energy and power when it ain’t necessary. What you have to do is identify the key times and events—then you strike.

A cobra’s key times and events are fairly simple to identify— threat and hunger. But what are yours? Much more difficult. 

There’s not a lot of point burning all that midnight oil to produce a report that only a couple of your colleagues get to see and is then forgotten. Wait until it’s the big report that’s going straight to the desk of the president—that’s the one that needs the cobra’s striking force. 

Of course, a lot of people wait for the key time—the office party, the key exhibition—and then they completely and utterly screw it up. They get drunk or fluff their lines, they are late or sick, or they appear with their flies undone or their skirts tucked into the back of their underwear. 

And key events? The presentation is a good one. Get it right and it’s remembered. Get it wrong and it’s you that is forgotten. 

You don’t get it wrong. Identify these times and events and shine at them. Be a cobra and strike when it is appropriate.

THERE IS NO POINT USING ALL YOUR ENERGY AND POWER WHEN IT AIN'T NECESSARY.